Guidelines for tween birthday parties

Why is it that your child’s birthday seems to come around more than once a year? Here, you just threw a party and here comes another one. Well, the standard rule is – in terms on number of people to invite – it’s your child’s age plus one, so that it doesn’t get too big and too overwhelming for them.
But by the time they’re a tween, they know who they want to invite and who they don’t want to invite. So if they say they don’t want your best friend’s daughter, unfortunately, you have to honor that and explain it to that parent. Because this is really about your tween and celebrating them. But nobody deserves an over the top, sweet sixteen, huge party, especially at ten.
So do something mild, do something relaxed and also encourage your child to consider giving their gifts to charity or donations to charity, because chances are they probably have everything they need.

Jane Buckingham

Author & Trend Forecaster

Jane Buckingham is the author of the best selling book series The Modern Girl’s Guide to Life, The Modern Girl’s Guide to Motherhood,The Modern Girl’s Guide to Sticky Situations and the The Modern Girl’s Guide to Raising Decent Daughters (Decentdaughters.com). Buckingham was the host of The Modern Girl’s Guide to Life on The Style Network and is a regular contributor to Good Morning America. She is the founder and CEO of Trendera, one of the countries foremost trend forecasting and consulting agencies, working for companies including Gap, Hilton, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Fox, Paramount, and many others. She is the proud mother of a decent 11-year-old son and decent nine-year-old daughter.

Why is it that your child’s birthday seems to come around more than once a year? Here, you just threw a party and here comes another one. Well, the standard rule is – in terms on number of people to invite – it’s your child’s age plus one, so that it doesn’t get too big and too overwhelming for them.
But by the time they’re a tween, they know who they want to invite and who they don’t want to invite. So if they say they don’t want your best friend’s daughter, unfortunately, you have to honor that and explain it to that parent. Because this is really about your tween and celebrating them. But nobody deserves an over the top, sweet sixteen, huge party, especially at ten.
So do something mild, do something relaxed and also encourage your child to consider giving their gifts to charity or donations to charity, because chances are they probably have everything they need.